Here comes the new Bay Area “RHNA” — what is it and why does it matter?

Just two weeks ago, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released the new Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA, pronounced “Reena”) determination for the 9-county Bay Area. It says that a whopping 450,000 homes need to be built, and 57% of them need to be affordable homes!

That’s the number of total homes that our region would need to produce in order to meet its housing goals over an eight years period starting in 2023.

What does this mean at ground level for San Francisco and other communities around and why does the RHNA matter?

Read this the Op-ed from community organizers in San Jose and in Concord: “450,000 new homes for the Bay Area —where will they go, and who will decide?” about why this big RHNA number matters and where all this housing should go.

CCHO’s new RHNA infographic also breaks down what the RHNA is (and meet "Reena"!) and why more affordable housing needs to be built.

And this SF Chronicle article sheds more light on the RHNA process and how it will affect Bay Area housing, and why San Francisco's focus should be on affordable development: “Bay Area needs to build lots of housing to meet state goals — and goals called too low”